My Lady Ludlow

putting his precepts in taking Harry Gregson as pupil and protege; if, indeed, she were aware of Harry's distinct existence at all, until the followin

connected with the Hanbury property. There were also one or two dictionaries, gazetteers, works of reference on the management of property; all of a very ol

door was only open on state occasions, and even to the last he would as soon come in by that as the terrace entrance. I had been received there on my first setting foot over my lady's threshold; every stranger was led in by that way the first time they came; but after that (with the exceptions I have named) they went round by the terrace, as it were by instinct. It was an assistance to this instinct to be aware that from time immemorial, the magnificent and fierce Hanbury wolf-hounds, which were extinct in every other part of the island, had been and still were kept chained in the front quadrangle, where they bayed through a great part of the day and night and were always ready with their deep, savage growl at the sight of every person and thing, excepting the man who fed them, my lady's carriage and four, and my lady herself. It was pretty to see her small figure go up to the great, crouching brutes thumping the flags with their heavy, wagging tails, and slobbering in an ecstacy of delight, at her light approach and soft caress. She had no fea

terrace-door, and the footma

vehemence, and lasted for so long, that my lady had t

r, John?" asked sh

om Mr. Horner, and must see your ladyship. I

does h

d him, my lady, but he won't

with just a shade of annoyance in her manner; for it was against

had any message, and he said no, he had none;

more words," said her ladyship, quietly,

as if stirred by some electrical current, a short, brown face, red now from affright and excitement, wide, resolute mouth, and bright, deep-set eyes, which glanced keenly and rapidly round the room, a

my lady; in so gentle a tone that

dyship?" said he, as

y do you want to see me?" again

Horner was sent for all on a s

he felt it, and closed his

el

off all on a

el

for your ladyship wi

might have given i

ship, I've clean

e. If he had not kept his look fix

I am sure you are very sorry for it. You had bette

your ladyship - I ca

much displeased, and, moreover, perplexed. The more reason he had for affright, the more his courage rose.

nd I read it, my lady; and now, my lady, it seems like as if I had got it off by heart;" and he went on with a high pitched voice, saying out very loud what

most as if he expected commen

re as needle-points; it was a way she had wh

ill this world come to?"

sion, and the best amends he could make, but had now deserted him, or was extinct, and left his body motionless, until some one else with word or deed made him q

gry look leaving her face, "int

lips began

No! I hope you have not got to read so easily as th

me by her evident feeling of dismay and regret, the soft repression of which

ght you,

er's clerk who le

r. Horner

I am sure I thought

owever, my boy, as you have got possession of edge-tools, you must have some

. Mr. Horner forgot for to sea

or you. You must never try to read any letters that ar

ht it were good for practi

way she could farther explain to him

ure," said she, "to anything

question. My lady repeated it. The light of intelligence came into his eag

arken when I hear folk talkin

tried to find out on what principle its laws were based. So, telling the lad that she wished to see Mr. Horner when he returned fr

to herself and half to me. I could

ion acted over again in England. When I was a girl, one never heard of the rights of men, one only heard of the duties. Now, here was Mr. Gray, only last night, talking of the right every child had to instruction

struggle that seemed now to have come to a crisis

s under the bishop's authority, not under mine; and implied that he s

dyship -" I

n on a subject, about which they differ as materially as I do from Mr. Gray, the wisest course, if they wish to remain

ood advice and prayers. And I had gathered from little things he said, how much his heart was set upon this new scheme. I liked him so much, and I loved and

g of what was passing in my mind; for

less he did so, he stood no chance of a second helping. A greedy man, that parson was, to be sure! I recollect his once eating up the whole of some little bird at dinner, and by way of diverting attention from his greediness, he told how he had heard that a rook soaked in vinegar and then dressed in a particular way, could not be distinguished from the bird he was then eating. I saw by the grim look of my grandfather's face that the parson's doing and saying displeased him; and, child as I was, I had some notion of what was coming, when, as I was riding out on my little, white pony, by my grandfather's side, the next Friday, he stopped one of the gamekeepers, and bade him shoot one of t

e finish i

in his anger! But to think of the difference between Parson Hemming and Mr. Gray! or even of po

d not be right to have a Sunday-school?" I as

guage. Of course, if a lad is taught to read and write (as that unfortunate boy has been who was here this morning) his duties become complicated, and his temptations much greater, while, at the same time, he has no hereditary principles and honourable training to serve as safegua

ladyship,"

tinued she, softly, shutting her eyes, as if the better to call up the vision, "as they used to do five-and-twenty years ago in those old-fashioned French gardens behind our hotel. Many a time have I watched them from my windows. It was, perhaps, a better play-place than an English garden would have been, for there were but few flower-beds, and no lawn at all to speak about; but, instead, terraces and balustrades and vases and flights of stone steps more in the Italian style; and there were jets-d'eau, and little fountains that could be set playing by turning water-cocks that were hidden here and there. How Clement delighted in turning the water on to surprise Urian, and how gracefully he did the honours, as it were, to my dear, rough, sailor lad! Urian was as dark as a gipsy boy, and cared little for his appearance, and resisted all my efforts at setting off his black eyes and tangled curls; but Clement, without ever showing that he thought about himself and his dress, was always dainty and elegant, even though his clothes were sometimes but threadbare. He used to be dressed in a kind of hunter's green suit, open at the neck and half-way down the chest to beautiful old lace frills; his long golden curls fell behind just like a girl's,

would tear

on for declining the feat. But Urian was not to be thus baffled. He went up to Clement, and put his arm once more about his neck, and I could see the two lads as they walked down the terrace away from the hotel windows: first Urian spoke eagerly, lo

angeres, I heard the tinkle of the little bell, announcing the elevation of the host. Down on his kn

out seeing Clement too - Urian speaks to me, or does something - but

rning, before he was out of his room, a footman of M

were to correspond; and Madame de Crequy and

the tenderest balm. Madame de Crequy wrote too. But I knew she could not feel my loss so much as Clement, and therefore her letter was not such a disappointment. She and I went on being civil and polite in the way of commissions, and occasionally introducing friends to each other, for a year or two, and then we ceased to have any intercourse. Then the terrible Revolution came. No one who did not live at those times can imagine the daily expectation of news - the hourly terror of rumours affecting the fortunes and lives of those whom most of us had known as pleasant hosts, receiving us with peace

one who brought us news from Paris. Where were these demons hidden when, so few years ago,

l, bloody Paris. I say I was thinking reproachfully of all this, and particularly of Clement de Crequy in connection with Urian, when Fenwick brought me a note, sealed with a coat-of-arms I knew well, though I could not remember at the moment where I had seen it. I puzzled over it, as one does sometimes, for a minute or more, before I opened the letter. In a moment I saw it was from Clement de Crequy. 'My mother is here,' he said: 'she is very ill, and I am bewildered in this strange country. May I entreat you to receive me for a few minutes?' The bearer of the note was the woman of the house where they lodged. I had her brought up into the an